In nearly every class I teach, I include a field research component tailored to
the goals of that particular
course. For “Sociology of Education, “ a college course attended primarily
by students interested in becoming
educators, I ask the students to observe, experience, and understand social interaction
within an educational
setting. This field assignment allows for growth of emotional intelligence and
curiosity well beyond what the
pages of the textbook define.

To begin, I ask students to select an educational setting of their choice for
observation. I don’t make these
arrangements for them; and that works out well because they are taught to network
and negotiate with
administrators and institutions. Moreover, as they are community college students
with jobs and complicated
lives, they can communicate with their former elementary, middle or high school
teachers or family members
for access to the schools at a convenient time. I give each student a formal letter
on college stationary which
requests that the “Dear Colleague” allow this student to be admitted
to a classroom “in order to experience an
educational setting.”

The Assignment: Students are asked to enter a classroom as unobtrusively as possible,
sit at the back, and wait
until they have spotted a child that engages their attention. They are to observe
one student only, as if they
had a camera centered on the one individual, and they are to record what happens.
What does the child look
like? What does he or she do? Who does the child interact with? Why did you pick
this student to observe?
They were to write their observations as field notes which were later translated
into a report. Here’s what
some of them discovered:

“In school, until I was about twelve, I was always shy. I never spoke until
I was spoken to…When it came to
interacting with others, I was not very willing…I wanted to observe a student
who represented me in my
childhood. After fifteen minutes, I realized who the shy kid was.” - Dan
C.

At the conclusion of the written report, the students were asked to comment on
what misperceptions they
would correct based on observation. Dan C. wrote: “…it is important
to understand that some people are just
shy and have a hard time socializing with their peers. This was a great learning
experience which I will take
with me when I become a teacher.”

Barbara N., who observed a kindergarten classroom, concluded: “I realized
that there are times I assume
things and I should not, and now it clicks to me.”

Still another student, after observing a Kindergarten class wrote: “My assumption
of how a child would act
near a teacher was a not right. That may be my instinct, but all people are not
the same…”
These acts of self –correction came from a renewed sense of self-awareness
that only the students themselves
could have generated. Beyond their own insights, the observing students became
more effective at
understanding teacher-student interaction and the non-verbal responses of children.

In some cases, students observed troubling student-teacher interactions. Zsofia
P. wrote the following about a
boy in an eight-grade class.

“I observed a backpack and I started to search for its owner, and this is
how my attention focused on
Alexander, a tall skinny boy…His glance was a bored one. During the reading,
he was doodling in his
notebook. Once he volunteered to read like all the other children, but the teacher
ignored him, so he had to go
back to his drawings.” After watching several of the boy’s attempts
at participation, Zsofia wrote: “After I got
out of the school, I tried to recall the class and figure out why Alex was rejected
all the time. I still don’t know
the answer, but I think he is more intelligent that the history teacher gives
him credit for; Alex deserves more
attention and appreciation from the teacher.”

Conclusions: One student summed up the experience this way: “In my next
observation, I would like to
observe Beth in another classroom and see if she reacts the same way to another
teacher. This observation
made me aware of the individual things students do during class. I have done observations
in school settings,
but I have always been assigned to watch the instructor. This assignment has given
me a chance to observe
someone other than the teacher.”

(Published in the Bank Street College of Education’s “Street Scenes”,
Fall, 2005.)

Joan Goldstein, Ph.D. teaches Sociology of Education at Mercer County Community
College in West
Windsor. She is a ’67 graduate of the Bank Street College of Education,
NYC; and has a Ph.D. in research
sociology from The Graduate Center/CUNY. Dr. Goldstein is the author of several
books and articles.

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